31. Jake
THIRTY-ONE
JAKE
Let’s review where I am.
Boy sees girl. Girl eyefucks boy.
Boy sees girl. Girl jumps in pond naked.
Boy meets girl. Boy and girl rib each other and flirt incessantly for a month straight.
Boy takes care of girl when she’s sick and things suddenly get serious. Boy’s hand goes down girl’s panties, but like just to see what’s going on and because it seems like the right thing to do.
Girl tells boy she is a bit of a minefield, but gives him a map to the minefield. Boy accepts.
Girl gets fed up and asks boy what the hell they’re doing. Boy kisses girl. Magic ensues.
Boy thinks he’s doing a nice thing by getting girl’s ex off her back, but girl actually hates it and boy ruined everything.
Boy should have known because of said minefield map.
I fucked up. But this has to be fixable, right?
Surely she can hear me out when she’s calm. I can explain what I meant, and how I won’t do it again.
I just got back from the lab. Real hot Saturday night. I considered asking Caleb and Becca if they were doing anything so I could meet up with them and take my mind off Darcy, but I ended up wimping out.
But judging by the sound coming from the field behind the house, Darcy’s not even mad right now.
Laughter. Honking laughter cut with big gasps. Then gunfire?
“I can’t believe I hit it! I didn’t even mean to!”
“What do you mean, you didn’t mean to? What else are we doing, ya ding dong?”
Brianna and Darcy sit in lawn chairs in the fading light, a case of cheap beer between them, and what I assume are empty cans on a fence post out in front of them. Between them and the house, tables and chairs are set up for what looks like a meal. Right, Darcy’s family barbecue.
My boots crush the grass under my feet until Bri turns to look at me. “Darcy, give me the gun.”
“Why?” Darcy asks, her accent much thicker than normal and her voice lazy. “You cuttin’ me off?”
She hands what looks like an airsoft rifle off to Bri, then looks back at me with a scowl. Stormy sits on her lap and Darcy cups her arms around her possessively. “What do you want?”
I put my hands out. “Just making sure you girls are safe. You sure drinking and shooting’s a good idea?”
“I thought I told you earlier I can handle myself,” Darcy slurs.
I nod. “You did. It’s true.”
“Then let me handle myself, cowboy.”
I put my hands out, knowing when I’m not wanted. “Alright. You two ladies have a good night. I’m just down the road if you need me.”
“We won’t!” Darcy calls as I walk away, and I hear Bri’s “aww” in my wake.
“Here! Jake! Heads up!” Bri launches a beer can at me. I catch it just before it dinks me. “A beer for the road!”
* * *
There’s a knock at the cabin door an hour later. I’ve had the beer Bri threw at me and a couple more from my fridge.
Darcy’s not the only one feeling sorry for herself. Funny how the minute I decide I’m tired of fucking around, I meet someone worth not fucking around with, and I fuck it up.
Figures.
I open to Brianna leaning against the screen door. “Old girl’s fallen asleep out back and can’t get up.”
My heart takes off and I bend to slide on my boots. “She okay?”
Brianna tosses a hand, looking worse for wear herself. “She’s fine. Just sick and tired. And I’m in no shape to get her in the house.”
I add all this up in my head. Am I supposed to carry Darcy into the house? Drunk Darcy? Drunk Darcy who’s mad at me and wants nothing to do with me? This could get ugly, fast.
Brianna sticks a hand out. “You gonna come help me, or you gonna stand there catching flies?”
I sigh. “You took her gun, right?”
“You scared of getting a little bb in your ass?” Bri asks. I’m pretty sure if you have two X chromosomes and arrive on this farm, your job is to give me constant hell. “Yes, I took it.”
I wince and nod, popping my other heel into my second boot. I pull the door shut behind me. “Show me the way.”
We walk in silence except for the crunching gravel under us, Bri wavering back and forth a little. “So I’m buzzed, you’re canned, and I guess Darcy is blackout?”
Bri whips her whole body back to talk to me, but her face is concerned. “Looks that way. It’s been over a decade since she did this. She’s always so responsible.”
I stifle a belch, putting my fist up to my mouth. “I’ve noticed.”
Except this morning, when she was grinding on my dick and begging me to fuck her when we needed to get up. But that aside, she’s very responsible.
“The thing you’ve got to understand about Darcy is she’s never really trusted anyone but herself. Not even me sometimes. She tries, but it’s hard for her.”
I let that hit me. “Are her parents addicts or something?”
Bri lets out a sardonic laugh. “That would make more sense. They’re just free spirits. You’ll see. Darcy’s always been a bigger adult than them.”
“She never got to be a kid,” I suggest. “Wait, I’ll see? I figure I’m not welcome at the barbecue.”
“Gosh, you give up easy,” Bri scoffs. “Thought cowboys were a little more rugged than that.”
“Well, I try to be respectful when someone tells me they don’t want to see me. Is there something wrong with that?”
“For Darcy? Yes. If everybody actually listened when she pushed them away, she’d never have nobody.” Bri tips her head. “Anybody? Anybody. Never have anybody. Not nobody.”
I pause. “But what if I’m the problem?”
“You’re not,” Bri assures me. “She’s just healing and can’t tell which way is up.”
I chuckle as Bri lets loose a burp so deep that it must have come from her toes. “Excuse you.”
“Jesus. Wimpiest cowboy I ever met,” she mutters, then whistles.
I spot Darcy’s form in the moonlight. She’s closer to the pond than I’d like for someone who can’t wake up enough to walk herself home. She’s in the grass with Stormy sitting up next to her, acting like a worried mother.
I crouch next to Darcy and Stormy asks for pets. “She likes you?!” Bri gasps. “She hates men.”
“I feel like you just emasculated me, so maybe that’s why she likes me.”
“I’m just giving you a little shit, cowboy,” Bri says. “I like you alright.”
“Hey, boss,” I coo, running the back of my finger over Darcy’s cheek. She doesn’t really move, but she’s breathing evenly. I feel her pulse, and it’s steady and normal.
“She didn’t even drink but three or four beers,” Bri adds. “I think the old girl’s just exhausted. It’s all catching up to her.”
I chew my lip and shake my head. “I wish I wasn’t part of what made her exhausted.”
“It’s not just you. Trust me. You just set her off.”
That makes my stomach hurt. Or maybe that’s the three beers in an hour.
“Darcy.” I shake her a little harder and she just hums, sucking up a little drool. “Hey, we’re going to get you to bed. Let’s see if you can walk. Brianna, can you get on her other side?”
“You kiddin’ me? I can’t lift shit right now. You’re lucky you’re not carrying both of us.”
I wrinkle my brow at her but sigh, realizing it’s really up to me. I scoop Darcy up, get her adjusted, and Stormy follows on my heels. I wait at the mudroom door for Bri to open it. As the house’s light hits Darcy, she stirs.
“You smell like Jake,” she mumbles.
“Who’s gonna tell her?” Bri laughs.
Darcy squints at me and rests her head back against my chest as I climb the stairs. “I’m mad at you.”
No, I love being heckled by someone when I’m helping them.
I grunt as I put her down on her bed. She’s not super heavy but carrying anyone up stairs isn’t a joke. “I know you are.”
She flops against her pillow and I notice how dirty her bare feet are, covered with grass stains, dirt, and little gritty bits. I head into the bathroom and grab a washcloth out of the small cabinet in there. I warm up the water before I dip the washcloth in it, wring it out, and head back into her room.
Bri’s trying to wrestle her into a t-shirt. “Fine. Sleep in your clothes. See if I care.”
I sit at Darcy’s feet, pulling them into my lap to wipe her feet clean.
“I showered your jizz off me,” Darcy grumbles, and heat flashes over my cheeks. I shoot a glance at Bri.
“Relax, I already know,” Bri says, unaffected. “And what you’re doing for her is stupid cute.”
Great, there’s a pipeline from our bedroom stuff to the girlfriends’ ears. Got it.
“She just needs a little care’s all,” I say, picking a few blades of grass off the soles of her feet and folding them into the washcloth. “I’ll get the horses in the morning.”
“Yes, Daddy,” Bri says. I glare at her and she claps a hand over her mouth. “Yes, Jake. Thank you. She needs extra sleep.” She pauses. “I’m being a dick, but you’re really nice to her. I hope she gives you a shot.”
“I can hear you,” Darcy mutters. “You’re too loud.”
I snort a laugh and stand, examining the dirty washcloth in my hand. “If she forgets, don’t tell her I was here.”